“Mmm, I just figure anywhere that Casey works is likely not going to interest me for long.” Teagan/i>Bekki shakes her head. There’s actually some thought behind it, so apparently two brain cells collided accidentally and caused a spark. “It’s cos we’re p big, so anyone what contributes anything to their socs or factions and stuff also gets our name in there, what muddies the water, so it looks like only we’re doing it and then the Legion get ahead and stuff.”

Bekki says “Casey works?“

Jakem nods, hooking a thumb over his shoulder “Performs on the stage back there. Caught her show the other day.”

Bekki adds, “She don’t leave the bed of what ever’s porking her. I just thought she was a professional ho.”

Jakem tilts his head “I dunno how much they pay her, might just be booze. I got finance guys to figure out all that stuff.”

“Finances are boring.” Bekki agrees.

Jakem hmmm’s as he looks at his phone “I mean I like money pretty well, and moving it around is fun. Thing is, I got… Uhhh…”

“I’ve been trying to get the Court to donate. Other than Obie, none of them are with us. But most of them are… exceptionally lazy of late. You’d think they’d gone into hibernation or something.” Teagan gives a sigh, but snorts faintly at Bekki, amused. “I could ask Calazar. Since Matias didn’t make it back from the Wild Hunt, ownership or whatever of her fell to me and I didn’t want to deal with that shit so… I passed her on to Calazar since he’s… or he was Matias’ liege in Brazil. Figured he’d appreciate having an easy meal whenever.”

Jakem says “… Twenty six properties, so keeping track of every single one’s not real feasible.“

Bekki says “I guess.“

“Gross. I have two and that’s annoying as it is,” Teagan says, making a bit of a face. “But with twenty-six, we should start getting investors for the mist avoidance system. With the wardrobes?”

“Matias was cutting off Avalon’s access to Arcanists,” Teagan explains to Bekki.

Jakem squints at Teagan “Yah know, I don’t think anyone actually has enough money to get that up and running. I suspect a lot of those richy rich’s are secretly poor.”

Jakem says “I was gonna ask Monday for an investment, but she’s flakey as they come. Didn’t even show up to the pitch.“

It takes a moment— A long one. Those brain cells did not survive contact. Bekki nods after a moment though, saying, “Oh. That’s pretty clever.”

“That’s why you get them to invest in like, one location. It gets… their name on it like a hospital wing or something,” Teagan says to Jakem with a shrug. “I dunno. I am poor.” For Bekki there’s a small nod. “Matias didn’t really give a shit about Casey one way or another, it was just making sure Avalon didn’t have an Arcanist at his beck and call. That’s kinda why I threw her at Calazar. He at least has other uses for a blood bag.”

Bekki says “That’s smart.“

Jakem nods to Teagan “Yeah, sure, that’d be great if I thought they could actually afford the five grand to put a single wardrobe up.”

“Maybe Matthew?” Teagan ventures with some thought. “He should be rich, right? And he needs ways to avoid the mist.”

thinks that over. “Wasn’t it a grand to fix two up? When did the price go up and who thought anyone could afford five grand.” There’s that famous family soundless snort, a hand on Bekki’s hip which suggests that she likely could, but wont.

Jakem shakes his head “Like I said, a lot of those richy rich sorts are actually dirt poor.”

Jakem nods to Bekki “Price’s been that high since I botched putting one in this last July.”

Bekki says “That’s dum. Building authority needs to get their finger out their asses and look at how much most people make and stuff.“

“It’s been that high as long as I can remember,” Teagan says after thinking for a moment. “Just one of those things. Gotta throw money into the ether and hope it works, I guess.”

Jakem nods to Teagan “Before the Hunt I coulda managed a couple, but now with all the shit I’m doing it’s not feasible.”

Unneededly, Bekki shares, “I wont now I gotta pay my own rent. I got more important things to buy and the tan gal still ain’t back from the hunt.”

Jakem tilts his head “The tan gal? Aren’t you the tan gal?”

Jakem glances at his phone “Cristal’s on her way. Figure we’ll swap the purpose of this to a cult meeting when she gets here.”

Bekki shakes her head. “The one what I had spray the tan.”

Jakem blinks at Bekki “You got a specific gal for that?”

“Why don’t you just get your aunt to fleshform you to always be tan?” Teagan asks with a bit of a yawn.

With a sigh, Bekki admits, “She said no.”

Cristal looks around and waves! “Where the snacks at??”

Jakem shakes his head “No can do. Can’t fleshform things tan.” he says dourly. “Tawny, brown, bronze, light brown, yellowish brown, beige…. But magic can’t construct tan flesh.”

Jakem glances over to someone “They’re all around yah. There’ll be more coming in to dance later tonight.”

Jakem glances over to Cristal “They’re all around yah. There’ll be more coming in to dance later tonight.”

Cristal looks at the others, and then looks down at herself. “We gettin robes?”

“I think she stopped the dye from pigmenting last time I was there.” Bekki shrugs. “I was gonna go get claws and shit next time, but if Fatty’s dead then I ain’t got no one to hurt for fun and all the guys at college are gay.”

Cristal scratches her head.

Jakem shakes his head “I just had these robes laying around, so I threw ’em on. And put the hood up. I’m underneath it.”

“There are a lot of gay men at college, but-” Teagan glances over to Bekki. “You should try hurting Calazar for fun. I approve it. Also, isn’t that like… turtle or whatever from Rhagost lurking around sometimes? You should hunt him down. Or that catgirl Lieutenant. We could sell tickets to that fight, right-” here she looks at Jakem.

“Yeah, I had the robe around, too, figured if we’re recruiting I should look the part.”

Jakem looks to Teagan “There’s a turtle running around? What’s that thing’s deal?” He smirks to Teagan “Yeah, I”m not seeing any interest in being recruited. So backup plan, how about a cult meeting.”

Cristal nods at Jakem, telling them and Bekki. “I’m Cristal!” She upnods Teagan. “Sounds like a fight I’d pay to watch!” Cristal leans against the wall for a bit of support.

“I thought about it, but Calazar don’t hurt right. He ain’t bad to fight though. P fun.” Bekki admits to Teagan. “And I already got one Legion person last month. Someone should have a chance before I get all the fun with the cat. Besides, Conrad’s getting in deep with her and it’s totes funny to watch him fuck up.”

“Yeah, I gotta… rework a plan to get your cousin out of that,” Teagan says with a sidelong look to Bekki. “I get that it’s funny to you, but also… helping the Legion is not a good thing.” Her attention slides back to Cristal and she stares for a moment before: “Teagan.”

Jakem looks about, then to Bekki “There a good place for a meeting room?”

“I guess it ain’t.” Bekki agrees. “I guess I should help get the cats back.”

A nod to Jakem and Bekki points to the north. “There’s one, and, like, there’s a room up stairs.”

Jakem says “Lead the way, I’m calling this a cult meeting starting… whenever we sit down.“

Bekki nods. “Okay. Through the dance floor, up stairs and then to the lounge where that weird ghost thing used to hang.”

Cristal scratches her head. “Kinda wanna do a snowball fight,” she admits.

Jakem glances over as Teagan is puppetted inside by forces unseen “Good of you to join us.” He smirks to Cristal “It’s all prepped outside, soon as we finish our meeting.”

Never one to give up on a free seat, Bekki walks over, plonking her fat ass down.

“I was a little spaced out,” Teagan admits, shaking off… well, it’s obvious what she’s shaking off and she doesn’t completely seem to mind. Not the first time. Won’t be the last either. “Obie will join us soon,” she adds before aiming for the seating herself to claim one of the armchairs.

Jakem settles himself near the mantle, scooching a bit to get comfortable. “All right. So as you all know, I hope, the maze is completed. This will serve as our means of disciplining those who oppose our aims going forward.” he declares in a boisterous showman’s tone that surely caries outside the meeting room. Secrecy doesn’t seem to be an aim here.

Jakem says “However, in order to use the maze, we have to keep the 63rd out of Aurora. Whether that’s controlling it ourselves, or making sure others control it.“

Cristal bobbles her head as Jakem speaks.

Jakem gestures about broadly “So what we have here is a strategy meeting first and foremost on how to keep the borough out of the 63rd’s hands. After that, well, we gotta get started fixing this city.”

“Okay.” Bekki agrees, making no effort to keep her own voice down. Secrecy is likewise not in her wheelhouse.

“We should put Maise in the maze to test it.” she suggests, having visibly realised the half-pun seconds before and snickering to herself about it before articulating the thought.

Jakem tilts his head “Okay, but we need a pretense. Otherwise people are going to figure out that we’re really just throwing people in at random, and not because they oppose us.”

Cristal scratches her head again, clearly trying to figure out how you put a maze in a maze without asking the question.

“I fully support putting her in the maze,” Teagan agrees with Bekki’s suggestion. “Well, we put Casey in. Maise is also a vocalist. We could just say it’s an… initiation rite for people who want to sing on stage in New Haven. Or… She’s dating Victoria now. We could say they won a special lovers’ night out at our exclusive mansion.”

“I just hope we don’t have to hear her shriek ‘Sugar’ every ten seconds.”

Jakem shakes his head “Unfortunately I haven’t gotten the cameras in yet, so it’s all just peeking at ’em through the windows. Which seem too thick to let sound through.”

“We could put Peri and Nemi in too. Race them to see who gets out first.” Bekki offers, leaning into her seat, her hair snaking out to take her unfinished drink so she can cross her arms behind her head in a stretch. “You know, like the science nerds do on campus with rats in the lab.”

Jakem squints “I feel like this is basically going to force us to declare a war against… What do they all have in common? People who do better in class than Bekki?”

Cristal giggles. “That’s kinda funny… I mean… can’t we?”

“You say unfortunately, I say thank god,” Teagan says in a dry voice. “Though can’t we just install some microphones or something for the time being?” There is a snicker, briefly, at Jakem. “More like happy couples, though I guess in either case maybe I should be concerned.”

Jakem shrugs to Bekki “I don’t got access to college records. Okay, well we can’t just throw people in for no reason. I mean we can, but we have to make up a reason.”

“Because they’re all annoying.” says Bekki – Oh the irony.

“Uhm…” Teagan furrows her brow. “I can look into it. I know Maise, Casey, and Nemi are. As for Anna… So what. She can be annoyed.” She leans back in her chair, adjsuting her robe a bit. “She can threaten to put chips into more peoples’ heads or whatever.”

Jakem says, with a firm nod, “So it’s settled then. We’re at war with the Order. Why?“

Bekki says “Do it cos they’re nerds.“

Jakem hmmm’s thoughtfully “I wanna be a touch more eloquent than that. Or wait, do I?”

Jakem grins suddenly “Henceforth, Bekki is deemed the Celebrant Authority of Faction Relations.”

“Uhm…” Teagan purses her lips, leaning back to consider the ceiling. “We should decide before Obie is here. Or maybe not. He might be fine with it so long as he’s exempt from being put in the labyrinth.”

Jakem pulls out his phone “Oh, if anyone else wants some made up title, let me know now.”

Jakem says “Why doesn’t he wanna go in the labyrinth?“

Jakem says “What do you have against the labyrinth Obie?“

Going for her phone, Bekki opens chatbot, types something, clears her throat, then begins reading, that valley girl vogue incongruous with the words escaping her lips. “It is perhaps an undeniable and inescapable reality that the members of The Order collectively embody the quintessential characteristics typically associated with individuals who are deeply immersed in the realms of academia, obscure knowledge, and intellectual pursuits- traits that are often colloquially and affectionately referred to as being nerdy. Their unwavering dedication to intricate details, their enthusiastic engagement with complex theories, and their penchant for discussing esoteric topics with fervor and precision all serve as vivid testament to their shared identity as self-proclaimed or widely recognized enthusiasts of niche interests and scholarly endeavors. In essence, one might observe that The Order, with their relentless curiosity, their penchant for meticulous research, and their unabashed enthusiasm for the minutiae of their specialized passions, exemplify what it means to be, in the most endearing and illustrative sense, a group of earnest and dedicated nerds.”

“That’s ridiculous even for me,” Teagan notes in the wake of… whatever that was.

“I don’t even know any more.” Bekki admits to Cristal. “I just told it what the Order was and got it to give me a fancy way of saying they was nerds and stuff.” There’s a beat before she shrugs, taking a sip from her drink as her hair manipulates the glass to her lips with some little effort. “I think so?”

Jakem looks back up “Oh wait, did that include a declaration of war?”

Bekki says “No. I also shut the page and my demo ran out on the chatbot.“

Teagan says “Be right back.“

Jakem says “Hey, Obie, make sure you’re not at ‘Something From the Nightside’.“

Jakem says “I think that’s where they sell off shit from the lost and found.“

Cristal says “Hi Sad! I’m Cristal!“

Bekki returns to her phone. Another page is opened and she considers her drink, Jakem, then begins typing, clearing her throat before announcing, “We hereby announce our unequivocal stance of opposition towards the Order, whose members have consistently demonstrated a penchant for scholarly pursuits and intellectual pursuits that, while admirable in their own right, have become emblematic of a certain insular preoccupation with academic and technical endeavors. It is with a sense of resolute conviction that we confront their unwavering dedication to their pursuits, which, in our view, have fostered an environment of excessive intellectualism and social aloofness, leading us to perceive their collective identity as being characterized by a particular scholarly obsession. Therefore, in the interest of asserting our own principles and challenging the dominance of such meticulous and perhaps overly cerebral tendencies, we have decided to declare a state of conflict with the Order.”

Cristal says “Hotnfresh! “

Jakem nods firmly to Bekki “Sounds great, let’s get that in a news article and print it across town so folks know where we stand and why we’re throwing all of your school rivals in a pit.”

Cristal says “Congrats on gettin married!“

Cristal says “Oh, I misheard.“

Jakem says “Well the door we’re behind is wide open.“

Jakem says “Wonder says you’re in the wrong building.“

Jakem says “Go to 78 Woodcrest Avenue.“

Jakem says “You honestly think that’s not one of my twenty six properties? What name?“

Nodding to Jakem, Bekki begins working, plastering nonsense that isn’t even checked for validity all over myhaven.

Jakem nods over to Bekki “Good job, though you left out your promotion to our faction relations post.”

Cristal starts liking as many of these posts as she can.

Jakem says “So we’ll have a Wondrous Dolls and Wonderful Dolls? I like it. Too bad we can’t change the university’s name to that.“

Jakem says “Check the news.“

Bekki says “That’s a strip bar when we abduct pretty people off the street.“

Jakem says “Now that’s a business proposal I can get behind.“

Jakem says, lifting a hand to wave as the two enter, “Welcome to the official cult business meeting. Good news, we already accomplished our secondary objective of coming up with excuses to throw Teagan’s classmates into the maze. Bad news, it involved declaring a cold war against the Order.“

Jakem says, turning back to the room, “Now on to the primary business, of keeping hold of the maze so we can throw folks into it. How we gonna deal with the recent support for the 63rders?“

Obadiah does a double take at Jakem and then blinks. “I fucking hate when you do that.” He motions to his face with his free hand the stops at the second part, “What?”

“It is pretty cold, but once spring comes around it’ll be a pretty warm war.” Bekki adds consolingly.

Cristal repeats to Obadiah without hesitation. “Ya gonna be a hostess now.”

Jakem nods to Bekki “You’ll need to release a new press statement come spring then.”

Jakem frowns to Obadiah “Oh, am I wearing someone’s face? Who?” He shrugs “Anyways. Yeah. If anyone asks, you’re our hostage.”

Jakem says “As Cristal said.“

Bekki taps her nose- she wont. She’s already forgotten what she had the chatbot do already.

There are still chairs around the fire, but Teagan opts to lean against Obadiah for a moment, being the reason he only has one free hand. She’s claimed the other arm, her own tucked through it. Because sometimes you have to be super sappy or something. It could be worse. “Hate when he does what?” There is a look to Bekki in mild surprise, though. “That was actually fairly clever. A warm war come spring. Good job.”

“Oh! yeah sure kidnap me I don’t care. Sofia will kick your ass but,” Obadiah pulls out his phone and scans the roster listing acceptable targets, “Darrow, Casey, Russel in a pinch, Liv, Victoria could go either way, Preston, Navessa but she is preggers, Nemi, Shay, Maise all good choices. Basically just not Ambrose, Sofia, or Sera and you won’t get shit from me.”

Bekki obviously has no idea what she did. It was exceptionally unintentional, the blond being literal rather than smart, but instead of admit this, because why would she, she taps her nose again as if it were intentional, preening.

“Well, Sera might be on the list just because she used to be one of us,” Teagan notes to Obadiah. “Makes her fair game, sorry.”

Jakem nods to Obadiah “Well I think Mercy and I mugged Darrow, and we threw Casey in the maze already so sounds like we’re off to a good start.”

“Fine I will concede to Sera if we also add Malin,” Obadiah says doing some weird horse trading with the winter queen. As one does la

Bekki says “But it’s important to put Maise in the maze.“

Jakem shrugs “Sure, we can throw Malin in. We need a pretext though.”

“Hmmmm.” Teagan considers this, drumming her fingertips against Obadiah’s bicep in consideration. “Well, we just say it’s her post-pregnancy celebration. We’re giving her a baby-free evening away full of drugs, alcohol, and violence.”

Jakem nods a bit to Teagan, then turns to address everyone “Allright, but first thing’s first. We could lose access to the maze on Tuesday, which’ll throw all this in a loop. What do we do about that?”

“Throw in a good trunking and I am sure she would be game,” Obadiah says with a nod before looking back to the larger group, “She calls me Nobie because apparently I am not any fun.”

“Lose access or will access just become tricky? It’s not like everyone stopped going to the mall altogether,” Teagan points out to Jakem. “We just keep Bekki around and if the crazy catgirl shows up, then we have another show on the docket.”

Obadiah says “Why would we lose access?“

“All go hunting and leave a pile of shit at the faction and society bases and tell people it’s all gotta go to Aurora.” Bekki suggests with a shrug, finishing her drink and discarding her glass.

Jakem glances to Obadiah “The Legion’s threatening to take over. Makes travel difficult if any of them get a knot in their knickers.”

“Who cares if we’re kidnapping them. I’m pretty sure they’ll already have several knots to worry about,” Teagan notes.

“It makes it hard for them to wear there nickers, too.” Bekki points out helpfully.

“Especially if King gets back,” Obadiah mutters under his breath but then says, “We continue to press on all fronts until we see what Tuesday brings and then maybe we can throw a Ell Tee in the labyrinth. Red seems like she could be fun.”

“Oh, right, yes.” Teagan considers for a moment, chewing on her lower lip. “We could always find one of the more… reasonable ones and see if we could make a deal. I’m not sure if they’d be amenable at all or what sort of deal, but it’s possible.” She makes a face at the mention of Red. “Until catgirl came along, she was top of my hit list.”

Jakem nods to Teagan “I had a deal with one of the doctors here, but she hasn’t been around much.”

“I am pretty sure she is just a Dommy mommy,” Obadiah says with a wave of his hand to Teagan but whatever was whispered gets a small nod of his head. Looking back to Jakem he says, “Oh Harmony? She’s…. Nice?”

Jakem hmmm’s “Harmony, yeah that’s her name. Anyways, I owned her shop, so unless she wanted it bulldozed she had to play nice. Not sure if she cares enough anymore though.”

Jakem shakes his head “With regards to going hard. I think we should do some militarization. You folks up for looking to handle an incursion should one pop up?”

“I would… prefer to go home first and grab a couple of things,” Teagan says, lifting the hem of her robe to show her not-good-for-fighting heels. “But sure, I’d be up for that.”

Jakem shakes his head to Teagan “We can’t dictate when incursions occur, you just have to keep an ear out for ’em.”

Bekki shakes her head. “Not today. I gotta go help move a dolphin at work soon. But if we do it again, sure.”

Jakem nods to Bekki “Plan is to have everyone keep an ear out for ’em whenever we’re available.”

Jakem is basically suggesting you keep ‘lookfor invasions’ active in aurora heights when you’re available for it over the next few days.

Cristal nods.

“I will do what I can,” Teagan says to Jakem. “Been a bit difficult to get things going lately. Had trouble doing a little smashing and grabbing for a couple weeks. You’d think people wouldn’t be so paranoid.” The slight twitch of her mouth at the corners might be at that… or at Cristal.

Jakem says “Waffles. Obviously.“

Jakem nods to Teagan “Yeah, I fought off an incursion in Fairefield, so dunno when we’ll see another one.”

Bekki says “I got trouble finding people to ambush lately. No one wants to spar over briefcases, which sucks.“

Obadiah looks at his phone and then around looking for a table and then then back to Cristal, “Where are they?” He looks over to Jakem, “I got it turned on now.”

Jakem glances to Cristal “Yeah, where are these waffles I keep promising people? People are gonna think I’m a liar if they show up and there’s no waffle.”

Cristal scowls, shrugging at Obadiah. “I dunno! Ya the hostess! Do ya damn job,” she scolds. “I want the choco ones! Oh, and the snocones.”

Jakem smirks and looks to Obadiah “I think yah got deligated.”

Jakem smirks a bit “Who wants to take wagers they end up at Something.”

“I had a bit of a tussle with someone over a package a couple nights ago,” Teagan tells Bekki. “But then he brought out a gun and it was a lot less fun. I have enough holes in me already.” She sniffs, but gives a squeeze to Obadiah’s arm, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m going to go change. I’ll be back. Just in case we do get word of an invasion.” She looks at her phone. “Should I pick up fried catfish?” There’s a vague roll of her eyes.

Bekki says “Go fry a cat instead.“

“No bet,” Obadiah says already fishing out his keys. “Snack run. Text me if any of you degenerates want something other than little diabetes.”

Obadiah totally kissed Teagan’s cheek in return

Cristal says “We ain’t want beeties! We want cakies!“

Jakem says “You missed our declaration of war. Check the news.“

Cristal shakes her head and tells Teagan, “Ya gonna have to learn ‘im right.”

“He’s just lumping it all into one category,” Teagan says to Cristal. “Why waste time say lot word, when few word do trick?” Then with a grin, she’s off to change! In case there is… battle!

Jakem hmmm’s “Oh, I should show yah all where the snowballs are.”

Bekki stands, smoothing the skirt of her dress. “I gotta go change then head to Seaside. LMK if we do more and stuff. Dolphins is heavy though, so I gotta be careful with them cos I don’t wanna hurt this one. It’s sick and keeps barfing on the handlers.”

Jakem says “Did the mist over take us? It was clear when we got here.“

Jakem shrugs “I mean I got my fancy car.”

Jakem says “Well I’m outside now and I don’t see any mist.“

Jakem uses a snowball: dripping down their face.

Jakem uses a snowball: With a *THUNK* the snowball strikes the target’s shoulder, bursting in a wave of mostly white, but slightly sparkling snow.

Cristal uses a snowball: With a resounding *SMACK* the snowball hits the target’s head; melting ice crystals slowly

Cristal cackles loudly.

Jakem says “I’m gonna have to take off soon. Got some things to get to, but Cristal can show yah where the snowballs are.“

Cristal uses a snowball: The snowball flies wide, ultimately hitting the ground as the snow rejoins its brethren.

Jakem says, calling out, “Over here.“